THE NEXT ONE
"Fried of the Demon Army, holds the position of commander but let us allege that because of his attainment of ancient magic he ranks higher. He is our target. According to our little friend down stairs, this guy is the only person to have attained ancient magic… at least besides us. I theorized that there have been attempts to have other members of the demon force learn ancient magic but every expedition has ended with failure, most likely because of the dungeon's condition for completion."
The others gathered around the table nodded as they listened to Ivan's debriefing. Canis appeared to be the only one not paying attention, though if one looked closely they could see her ears twitching now and then, suggesting she was listening intently.
"His ability is likely one to create or manipulate monsters, during combat it might be useless but who knows how many beasts this guy has made with who knows how many unique abilities. Take him down and you take the demons down with him. I can't speak for how strong the Demon Lord is but I believe our priority is to eliminate this threat before his army of monsters grows any larger. Let us not forget if it weren't for us, just a few of his monsters would've been all it took to kill the 'legendary heroes' who were summoned with stats greater than ninety percent of humanity."
"Sensei!" Felis raised her hand excitedly, her voice so loud it caused Canis' perked ears to flop over in annoyance.
"What is it, student?" And who was Ivan not to go along with this little student-teacher play?
"I know you want us to kill this guy and all, but how are we gonna find him?" She tilted her head while asking the question the rest of them were thinking about.
"Excellent question, remind me to give you a gold sticker later. While we have no idea how much this guy values his people, he seems very beloved by them. Almost to the point where they consider him the salvation of their holy mission. Let us suppose he is selfless enough to lead them through a dungeon so that they could have an army of ancient magic users. To not repeat what might've happened during their first expedition it is likely he is searching for a team safe dungeon."
"Mmm… there's a possibility he knows the location of all the labyrinths. Just like how we know it from Oscar's lair, he might've learned it from whatever dungeon he cleared."
Yue took the opportunity to chime in, a pensive look on her face as she held a finger up to her chin.
"Indeed, Cattleya likely had another mission down in the Orcus Labyrinth other than eliminating the heroes. There's a strong possibility she was down there to determine whether it'd be possible to guide fellow demons to obtain its magic. While it might've been amusing to see their faces when they realized it was not offensive magic, I'd rather not risk the odds of them having some amazing crafter or blacksmith get their hands on it to make weapons of mass destruction. As long as I'm alive I'd like to have a monopoly on that~!"
Ivan clapped his hands as a map appeared out of thin air, such an act was not necessary but merely done for cosmetic effect. An aspect Yue and a few of the others knew as they rolled their eyes, only Felis and Canis appeared somewhat amazed.
"As Yue said, we know the location of every labyrinth. So far we've only cleared two out of the seven. In order to preserve this peace so as to not get dragged into some god's game, I say we conquer the rest of the dungeons with the prospect of monopolizing each power. The Grand Gruen Volcano, the Sunken Ruins of Melusine, the Divine Mountain, Haltina Labyrinth, and finally the Frost Caverns of Schnee, these are all that remain."
The group followed Ivan's finger to wherever he pointed, noticing the large red circles that numbered in seven.
"Now, I'm not suggesting we all split up and whoever finds him gets the honor of beating him up. To reiterate we have no idea how many overpowered monsters he has on his side, which in regards leads us to think about the magic he obtained. What are the costs, the time to create, is there a limit to how many monsters he has at his side? And many more. I'd rather not have some of us ganged up on just because we split up, though our opponent is one we have to remember he has ancient magic at his side that makes his number go from one, to seemingly infinite."
The group nodded according to his words. It'd be embarrassing on their part if they were caught off guard just because they underestimate the skill of their enemy. If splitting up was unwise, then that left one more option to find this guy—
"Our plan was always to clear these dungeons, for me it was a matter of curiosity, I presume Yue acts out of a desire to aid me in my ambitions. The same goes for Claire and Ari. Canis and Felis, you two as I've said before to Felis, were born into this world with the intention of becoming whatever you desire. That's at least how I've felt during our duration together. And as for Tio… you could do whatever you want."
"Oho~ For master to treat me so insignificantly as if I were some stranger who happened to hear this conversation~! Mhm, rest assured this lowly servant shall do whatever you ask of her! Fufu~ Whether it be on the battlefield, or in be-"
"Mmm… Die."
Yue had enough of the perverted dragon's tangent before slugging a lightning bolt down her way.
"Wawawawa–!"
"Ehem, thanks very much, Yue~!" Ivan sent a look of gratitude toward Yue's way before looking back to the rest of the group. All of which had started sitting straight in fear of suffering the same fate as Tio.
"So that's it, we'll begin clearing the dungeons at super speed so that we can claim the magics first. From that point we set up alerts in each dungeon's liberator lair to warn us of anyone who manages to make it. Then, we jump 'em!"
Definitely words unbefitting someone summoned as a hero, and yet the others clamored with him anyway. The sooner they cleared the dungeons the longer they could enjoy the peace with their loved ones.
*DING DONG!*
"Hm?" The discussion was broken up by a ring at the door. A holographic screen appeared before Ivan's face as a familiar autonomous machine entered his view. All that appeared was one of his droids, holding a small brown crate made of wood. Seeing as how it made it this far without alarming any of the detectors, Ivan was confident to say it was no weapon or dangerous chemical trap sent by enemies as a trojan horse.
Neither the infrared, or filters in the air detected anything abnormal. There were traces of metal within the package but besides that nothing else. It was safe to say it wasn't some advanced bomb.
With the press of a button the droid placed the crate at its feet, descending down the stairs back to the gate of the manor to return to its post. Ivan snickered a bit as a postal carrier trepidly stepped back the closer it approached him.
"What is it? What is it?!" Felis, as curious as ever, rushed to the front door to inspect the package. Dragging it into the house before anyone else even made it to the front door. Though anyone here was capable of breaking it with a single punch, Ivan only pressed a hand against it before the lid of the crate melded into the body of the base like water.
"WHOOOA!" As promised, the hero finally did good on his deal of the bet. Along with the money that was promised were a few golden plates. Ivan wouldn't forget the look of them, especially when he held one in his pocket. The only thing that made him regretful were this world's cautions when making deliveries… or well the lack of them.
"C'mon, no packing peanuts? What about the bubble wrap? I would have been content with styrofoam or newspapers as well! I swear if a single one of 'em ends up with a scuffed plate… I'll take the hero's holy sword as retribution!"
Not minding how Ivan spoiled them, the rest of the group attacked the crate with greed. There was nothing different about any of the plates but the money and the jewels added on as an offering was different.
Along with all of this was apparently a note by the princess who became interested in the group after hearing of their exploits in the dungeon from the other students. Ivan merely handed over the note to Yue for incineration as the contents were completely unappealing to him.
His encounters with the young empress could be counted with one hand, and every time they did meet it was merely for obligation. Such as when he and the other students were first summoned, when he presented his craft to the kingdom, and a few other times when he went to discuss a few plans or details with the king.
He's had a few conversations with her before but if you asked him what they were about then he'd tell you he couldn't even remember, and in his defense he truly couldn't. So of course he just glanced at the formal invitation to visit the kingdom before crossing it off as a waste of time. Even if he was interested, he and the rest of his group were declared heretics by the Kingdom and Holy Church. Such an invitation was likely just a trap to lure them from the barrier that protected them in their sleep.
Yue only glanced at it for a millisecond before it combusted into ashes, then those ashes combusted again until it became nothing.
Their exchanges with the Kingdom's forces ended here. Now that both sides have carried out favors to each other their relationship has become equal. Though Ivan's group still carried the upper hand as they had saved the last hope.
"Alright, single file line! Those with the lowest stats shall meet punishment at Yue's hands! Fufufu~ You all better have not been slacking off in your training~!"
"...."
The rest of the group besides Yue all gulped in silence, the rare occasional grin formed on Yue's face. However none were given the chance to appreciate its beauty, as the only thing visible to those besides Ivan was despair.
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It's hot as hell over here! Sitting right next to a computer that blasts hot air doesn't make it any better either..... So honestly this took me a while to write today. In fact it's 12:30 rn and I usually upload chapters at 1:00 so you can guess how narrow this came to be.
As mentioned we're approaching the climax real quick. I'm on Volume 8 now of the light novels which should mean I'm right near the end! Right? Right?!
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